Reader Review: The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James
Review by Laurel Ann
Author Syrie James’s personal and professional accomplishments serve her well in her reverent presentation of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen. Her website brims with such a diversity of talents that one does not question why she is qualified to write about such a sensitive subject, but rather why she waited so long! Even Jane Austen’s discerning character Mr. Darcy might consider her one of the 12 most accomplished women of his acquaintance.
Breaching the hollowed halls of Jane Austen paraliterature is a daunting task for none but the stout-of-heart and thick-of-skin writer. Mrs. James wears her Austen-armor well and delivers a sincere and honest love story that will engage and delight most Jane Austen devotees, and raise an inquisitive eyebrow of the Austen purists. Her Jane is real and approachable, flesh and bone, human and fallible; — not the stour judgmental old maid envisioned in the 19th-century portraits. We feel her troubles, her joy, her pain, understand her life decisions, and appreciate her all the more for it.
It is not often that this discerning reader can offer unqualified praise, so I will not break my streak. Five Austen stars!
AustenBlog is giving away three copies of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James. This drawing is for U.S. residents only. To be entered in the drawing, please send your full name and mailing address to editor@austenblog.com by 10 p.m. Eastern time, Wednesday, November 21, 2007. (The contest is closed early, because the Editrix is an idiot who doesn’t know what day it is.)
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